In a thread I just read ( which I cannot link to because iPad, Safari, etc ), in G.Q. Regarding states and laws, someone mentioned the Doper Barack Obama.
Maybe I’m crazy. But I thought we were not allowed to pose as someone else who was readily identifiable?
It’s pretty clear that the user Barack Obama is not pretending to be the real Barack Obama.
Okay thank you.
That’s exactly what the real Barack Obama would want you to think.
It still should not be allowed.
From the registration agreement:
There’s no bright line rule on what kind of name would trigger this provision. In the past, I think a name something like, ‘fuckthemods’ was disallowed. Similarly for names that were part of some kind of spam or advertising. Based on what criteria should the name in question be disallowed?
There is no George Bush (41 or 43), but we also have Bill Clinton. Ronald regan, and Ronald Raygun. No Jimmy Carter, but there is John Carter of Mars (that’s a stretch). Honorable mention to Wesley Clark.
Lots of people pick names or derivations of names of well known figures. That’s not enough to disallow a name.
We even had a Curtis LeMay. He’s still here, but has changed a bit over the years. (including his name)
Far out, man:cool:
I concur.
Wait. You mean the former president isn’t a member here?
Um, why? What on earth is the big deal?
Jim Butcher isn’t famous like a president, but he is a well known author who posted under his own name here once upon a time. Seems to me that if someone is the actual “famous person” in question they would be allowed to register as themselves.
And the name Curtis LeMay changed to is also a famous real person, Qin Shi Huang.
I think it generally becomes clear fairly quickly whether the person using a name is the actual famous person. The only problem I could foresee would be a famous person trying to register, and discovering that their name was already taken, but that’s a bridge we’ll burn when we get to it.
And Jim Butcher, if you’re reading this, when can we expect the next Dresden Files book? I’m eager to see more of a certain character, after a certain major change in that character’s life at the end of Skin Game.
If a famous person was posting here, we’d most likely never know it because it would be very hard to have normal conversations with normal people without his or her fame getting in the way.
In “Henry V” by Shakespeare, the king walks among his soldiers disguised as a common soldier himself so that he can hear what they really think and feel without his royal station impeding hearing the truth.
KING HENRY - “I think the King is but a
man, as I am. The violet smells to him as it doth to
me. The element shows to him as it doth to me. All
his senses have but human conditions. His ceremonies
laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man,
and though his affections are higher mounted than
ours, yet when they stoop, they stoop with the like
wing. Therefore when he sees reason of fears as we
do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as
ours are. Yet, in reason, no man should possess him
with any appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it,
should dishearten his army.”
This’d be problematic, right? Define famous. Give me an example of someone who is not famous and such a username would be allowed.
It becomes an enforcement challenge, right?
I think it doesn’t matter. Just don’t be objectionable to the mods.
Just to clear things up. While Bubbadog is not my real name I am THE famous Bubbadog.
If this causes any problem I would be happy to change it to my real name, Bryan Cranston.
He is, but he goes by a different name. We should have a contest to see if anyone can identify him.
I just want to clarify that I’m not - repeat not - the infamous cartoon toad.
Because someone could indeed take that post and put in on Faux news claiming it’s a from the real person. And once the claim is out there, the facts dont matter.
Indeed